


Let Me Give You A Christmas Moment

by Vodnici



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, Decorating, F/F, Festive Mischief, First Kiss, Mistletoe, christmas food, louis has christmas spirit af and aj learns the traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 12:57:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17224490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vodnici/pseuds/Vodnici
Summary: When Louis randomly gets really into the Christmas spirit, an opportunity for AJ to learn about some of the traditions of the old world arises, and cheerful conversation about the festivities of the holiday brings back warm - and less warm - memories of what used to be done. One tradition in particular takes centre stage and plants an idea in someone's mind.





	Let Me Give You A Christmas Moment

**Author's Note:**

> A sorely overdue Secret Santa for someone in a Discord server! I hope everyone's still in the Christmas mood, because this fic has taken me most of December to get through. OTL I didn't think the plot I had planned for this would end up taking up almost 20 pages on Word, but I guess it be like that sometimes. My longest fic to date!

   “Y’all remember how we used to build gingerbread houses with Mrs Barnes?” Louis asked cheerfully, utterly out of the blue when there had been sufficient pause in the conversation. The question made everyone turn their attention from the bowls in front of them to Louis at the end of the table. They were all silent for a moment, perhaps waiting for an explanation or elaboration.

 

   When none came, Violet asked: “What exactly about leftover rabbit made you think about gingerbread?” with a perked brow.

 

   Louis shrugged, seemingly undeterred by Violet’s slight scowl. “Let’s just say I have a heightened sensitivity to small, atmospheric changes in the air.” Taking the last mouthful of his stew, he let the spoon fall into the now empty bowl with a clang. “And, if I’m not mistaken—” He got up from his seat, turned his chair around and sat down on it backwards, as he usually would after a meal, “—I can hear the faint jingle of metaphorical sleigh bells, heralding the cosy advent of Christmas.”

 

   Violet groaned audibly, rolled her eyes and stood up, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket and leaving the rest of the group to deal with whatever nonsense Louis had thought up this time, which, with Louis’ persistence, would inevitably become a conversation. “I’m going to bed. Wake me up when you’re done talking about stupid, childish bullshit.”

 

   As Violet disappeared into the dorms, Louis simply shook his head and tutted. “I always thought she had the least Christmas spirit out of any of us.”

 

   “Cut her some slack, Lou. Ya know how she gets with Christmas stuff,” Ruby mediated. “What makes you think it’s the holiday season, anyhow?”

 

   It certainly couldn’t have been the weather, Clementine thought while she listened to the exchange silently. These past few weeks had seen a bitter change in temperature, replacing the chilly autumn breeze – that, at most, would gently play with your hair and make dead leaves dance – with piercing gusts that snaked past seams and zippers straight into your core and chilled your bones. No snow had fallen yet, and although its presence would hinder movement and make hunting and escape considerably more difficult, perhaps the lack of it contributed to the bleakness. The sight of dead or dying trees, the sun rising late and setting early, and the more or less constantly overcast skies weren’t exactly reminiscent of a winter wonderland.

   Clementine had found the only salvation to be the fact that they had all gotten ahold of proper winter clothes before the cold set in, and that they had managed to scrape together a modest food supply that would keep them fed for at least a few days in case all else failed.

 

   That, and the fact that walkers were slower and more easily manageable in the cooling temperatures. However, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing frozen corpses strewn about, unable to decay. Every year, she had to mentally fortify herself against the sight, but she guessed you might never get used to seeing sunken-in, decapitated heads and ashy grey limbs poking out of a couple feet of snow, and you could never be prepared for the body you wouldn’t even know was there until you tripped over it while trudging through a snowdrift.

 

   “I told you!” Louis exclaimed. “I can feel it in the air.”

 

   AJ looked around, his brows furrowed in confusion. “I don’t feel anything… except cold.”

 

   Louis gasped theatrically and covered his mouth with his hands. “Oh… you poor boy, you’ve never experienced Christmas, have you?” His hand moved to clutch his jacket over his chest. “My heart bleeds for your loss.”

 

   Clementine caught AJ’s eyes widening and put a hand on his back. “It’s just an expression, bud. Louis is just being dramatic.”

 

“Christmas is just about _the_ best holiday ever, okay?” The Christmas lights were practically shining in Louis’ eyes, and, with the way he regarded AJ, Clementine could already tell he was about to set off on a longwinded explanation. She just smiled and leaned back in her seat. AJ was on the edge of his, excitement written plainly all over him.

 

   “It started out as a celebration of some guy being born a million years ago, but that was _super_ boring, so everyone just kinda added to it until it became the _least_ boring holiday in history. People give each other presents, you decorate your house and stuff your face with delicious food until you can barely walk, you build snowmen and snow forts and annihilate your friends in snowball fights, and, of course, last but certainly not least, you sing the most obnoxious songs to annoy anyone and everyone around you—” he turned his eyes to Mitch and Aasim at the opposite end of the table with the smuggest, most satisfied grin on his face, “—which, by the way, I found a songbook of in the piano room. With sheet music.”

 

   An exasperated groan could be heard from Mitch, while Aasim merely rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, deliberately trying to ignore Louis by focusing all of his attention on his journal.

 

   Mitch pointed his spoon at Louis threateningly. “If you play as much as one note or sing one word from a Christmas song, I swear I’ll smash your goddamn piano and beat you with the pieces.”

 

   But that didn’t faze Louis. If anything, it made the smile on his face grow even wider. “Then I’ll make sure the last song I play is a _good_ one. Like _Santa Claus Is Coming To Town_ or _O Holy Night_.”

 

   Before Mitch could start yelling curses, jump up onto the table and storm Louis with a slightly rusty spoon as the murder weapon, Ruby interjected. “Christmas ain’t _just_ about presents and food and songs. It’s also ‘bout spendin’ time with your family ‘n friends, y’know, people ya love and who love ya back. We used to invite the whole family over, ‘n sometimes pops would go huntin’ and shoot the turkey himself.”

 

   “I once stole the frozen turkey the day before Christmas and blew it up in the backyard, guts and all,” Mitch interjected, seemingly proud of this accomplishment, the promise of bad Christmas carols forgotten.

 

“Your experiences are unfortunately not universal, Mitch,” Louis informed him. “But I’m sure we all remember the snowball wars we had out here.” He leaned over to Clementine and shielded his mouth with his hand, yet he didn’t lower his voice enough for it to be a whisper. “Of course I came out the victor most of the time.”

 

   “Bullshit!” Mitch called out. “I beat the crap out of you every time!”

 

   “And Violet beat the crap out of _you_ every time, Mitch,” Aasim chimed in with a small smile, not even looking up from the book in front of him, and laughter spread among the others at the table. Mitch, in turn, seemed to shrink in his seat.

 

“What Christmas traditions did’yer family have, Clem?” Ruby asked once the chuckles and giggles had died down.

 

   Christmas wasn’t something Clementine had thought about for years. She remembered missing it the first year or two after the outbreak, but it hadn’t crossed her mind since then. Day-to-day survival and protection had always ranked higher than memories of an old holiday she would probably never get to experience again.

 

   It was hard for her to even recall anything her family had done way back when. A small lump formed in her chest when she realized those memories were buried deep, and that they might be lost to her as time passes.

 

   “Well…” she began, as a memory finally resurfaced, “I think we usually visited my grandparents over the holidays. I remember baking so many cookies with my grandma we had jars filled with them everywhere. And we left a whole plate out for Santa that was gone the next day, but one year I caught grandpa eating the cookies in the middle of the night.”

 

   Smiles and chuckles spread among the table. Clementine smiled along, but melancholy weighed on her when she tried to picture her grandparents’ faces and only saw a blur. Slightly panicked, she brought up a memory of her parents, and was relieved when she could still see them in her mind’s eye. They weren’t as clear-cut as they used to be, though. Their edges had begun to fade, and some of the contours and features of their faces were as if covered in a thin fog. The fact that even memories weren’t forever loomed overhead and was becoming gradually more real to her.

 

   “Ugh, what I wouldn’t give for a Christmas cookie.” Louis’ lament pulled Clementine out of her own mind. He leaned so far back, holding on to the backrest of the chair, that he could see Omar upside-down by the pot some distance away. It looked precarious and Clementine was convinced he’d fall over any second. “Omar! I’m devastated that you haven’t baked any cookies for us!”

 

   Omar, who had been busy cleaning the pot for stew with an old sponge, looked up from his work. “Well, Louis, if you come by a working oven, I’d be happy to bake some. I’d also need flour, and sugar, and eggs, and literally everything else you need to make cookies.”

 

   Louis began suggesting other, outlandish ways he imagined cookies could be made, all of which Omar shot down, and the conversation turned into ways they could build a makeshift oven and figure out how to make flour and sugar, and where they could find chickens for eggs. Ruby and Mitch joined in, now set on solving how they might allow Omar to bake. Among the ruckus, AJ pulled on Clementine’s sleeve. “Clem? Who’s… Santa?”

 

   “Before walkers were around, Santa Claus would fly around in a magic sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and deliver Christmas presents to all the kids around the world. He’d land on your roof and come down your chimney to put the presents under the Christmas tree.”

 

   AJ grimaced, narrowing his eyes and perking his brow. “Some guy broke into your house to… put stuff under a tree? A tree that’s _inside_ your house? That makes no sense.”

 

   A smile couldn’t help but to pull at the corners of Clementine’s lips. “I know it sounds weird, but every kid I knew was excited for it. And you decorate the tree you bring inside so it looks beautiful. I got to put an angel on top of a _really_ tall Christmas tree a long time ago. It was so tall, I had to stand at the top of a staircase to reach it.”

 

   AJ seemed to be imagining it, his eyes growing distant for a moment and his mouth opening slightly in awe. “Whoa…” He then smiled and looked up at Clementine. “I’d like to see a Christmas tree someday.”

 

   “Maybe you will, bud.”

 

   The cookie conversation seemed to have died down, Louis getting the final word with, “I still think we could figure out how to build a mill. We just need to find a big rock and somehow make a hole through it and attach it to a _thing_ so it can smash the wheat. Hell, I’ll do it all myself if it means I get gingerbread.”

 

   “I’d like t’see ya try when ya don’t know what a ginger root looks like.”

 

   Louis shot her a winning smile. “Why, that’s what I have _you_ for, sweet Ruby.”

 

   She chuckled. “Well, I’m certainly charmed, but I don’t think ya can even find any in winter. Yer supposed to harvest ‘em in summer or fall.” She stood up from her seat and made to leave. “But no matter what roots ‘n whatnot ya want us to go huntin’ for, it’ll have to wait till tomorrow. I’m beat ‘n freezin’. Goodnight, y’all!”

 

   As if Ruby pointing out her own exhaustion made everyone else remember theirs, they all agreed to turn in for the night. After having helped to take care of the dishes, Clementine and AJ were well on their way back to their dorm, when AJ commented: “Christmas sounds really weird, but exciting, too. I wanna have a snowball fight when there’s enough snow!”

 

   Clementine closed their door behind them and turned the key, the lock clicking in place. “Maybe we can have one eventually. We just have to be careful not to sweat, because then we get cooled off more easily.”

 

   Shaking off his jacket and hanging it on the backrest of a chair, AJ turned his head to her. “And that’s bad, right?”

 

   She nodded while taking off her own. “If we get too cold, we could die.” Painfully, she recalled falling through the frozen lake and struggling to regain warmth by the fire after; it felt like the cold had ensnared her very core and would never let it go. And Luke…

 

   “If it’s too dangerous, we should find something else to do.”

 

   Clementine looked up after kicking off her boots, and her heart broke silently when she saw AJ: He was taking off his own boots and placing them meticulously next to the chair where his jacket hung, his eyes stern and his mouth only a thin line. If she didn’t know him, Clementine would think he meant it, but she could see the quiet, childish playfulness suppressed behind the need to always appear so strong and mature. Sometimes it shone through, like now.

 

   Her conscience got the better of her. “Well… a _small_ snowball fight wouldn’t hurt anyone. I think the others would be happy to have one, too.”

 

   The way his face lit up and the genuine smile that escaped through the façade of fortitude made the slight risk of a snowball fight worth it. “Awesome!” He walked over, jumped up and sat at the edge of his bed, fluffing up his pillow next to him. “What else do you remember from Christmas? You know, before walkers?”

 

   Clementine sat down on her own bed, opposite AJ, and put on a thoughtful face, lips puckered and eyes screwed upwards, but she already had something on her mind. She had purposely neglected to mention it at the table out of fear of the possible repercussions, but there was another Christmas tradition she had recalled, one that she had less fond memories of. Now that she and AJ were alone, however, she didn’t think it would hurt to talk about.

 

   “There was one thing… I think it was called mistletoe. It’s a plant that you’d hang inside somewhere, and when two people would stand under it at the same time…” Her mind began wandering to the one person she probably wouldn’t mind being caught under the mistletoe with, and she had to suppress a blush, “… they have to kiss. I have no idea why, it’s just something you do.”

 

   AJ’s curious expression shifted to slight disgust, eyebrows furrowed and nose scrunched up. “Ew. So… you kiss under a plant, and a dude with a beard and a red suit comes down your chimney and puts gifts under a tree you’ve put inside your house?”

 

   Realizing how those traditions must sound to someone who’s never experienced proper Christmas, Clementine chuckled and nodded.

 

   AJ suddenly looked mildly troubled, though. “There’s a fireplace in the piano room! Is he… gonna come? We don’t even have a tree!”

 

   She shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about him, bud. No one’s coming in. It’s just something parents used to tell their kids.”

 

   Nodding hesitantly, unconvinced, AJ pushed himself back in bed to crawl under the covers and lie down. “If he does come, I think I can take him. I’m small and fast.”

 

   “You don’t have to take anyone.” She put her cap on the bedside table and made to turn off the light, when her eyes shot up to look at AJ gravely. “And don’t even think about standing guard by the fireplace in the middle of the night. I know you’re thinking it.”

 

   AJ looked guilty. “Dang it.”

 

   She smiled wryly before blowing out the candle. “Goodnight, AJ.”

 

   “Goodnight, Clem.”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

   The sky was only beginning to take on lavender and pink hues behind the trees to the east when they joined the others outside the next day, yet Clementine knew it had to be well into morning. The world was always so quiet and mostly peaceful in winter, but the scarce daylight forced them to condense all their daily tasks into less hours. Tending the greenhouse they’d worked on tidying and rebuilding could be seen to at any time, but hunting and foraging had to be done with the sun in the sky. Walkers were much harder to spot under the cover of darkness.

 

   It wasn’t _all_ bad, though. With the darkness creeping in earlier and letting go later, Clementine found it was easier to go to sleep and to wake up in the morning because they ended up rising with the sun, usually finishing their breakfast by the time the first golden rays showed on the horizon.

 

   That wouldn’t last long, and soon they’d be working in the light from a sun that’d never rise properly and leave constant, long shadows on the ground. Clementine decided to revel in the temporary balance between her group and nature’s rhythms, however.

 

   Violet sat down by Clementine’s left side at the table, carrying her own plate of whatever they could scrape together for the meal, like beans, tomatoes (from the greenhouse!), and leftover meat from dinner. Clementine wanted to ask Violet why she had left so suddenly the day before, but decided against it, and simply said good morning, smiled, and began eating.

 

   Everyone tended to drop in for breakfast at slightly different times, depending on when they’d wake. Mitch was usually the last to show up (Louis would’ve been too, if his hunger didn’t rule over his exhaustion), while Omar was up early to do the cooking. Aasim was an early bird too, spending spring and summer mornings writing in his journal by the desk outside. Clementine suspected he had brought the writing to his dorm with the cold setting in, as he wasn’t seen outside doing things that could be done indoors. Speaking of Aasim…

 

   “Where’s Aasim?” she asked, looking up and down the two tables, and to the desk by the steps. The others began doing the same, seemingly only having realized then that one of them was missing. The fact was that Aasim was nowhere to be seen.

 

   “He came out to eat really early,” Omar said, sitting opposite Clementine. “Must’ve woken up around the same time I did. Rushed so much that he barely chewed his food and then set off to the admin building. He said he wanted to look for something. Didn’t say what, though.”

 

   Everyone exchanged confused glances with each other. Aasim had obsessed over things before, like being buried in a book for days on end until he’d finished it, but it didn’t seem like him to rush off with little explanation.

 

   Mildly puzzled chattering spread among the group as they continued to eat, giving this and that reason for Aasim’s absence. Clementine made eye contact with Violet, who simply shrugged. “He probably just remembered something he needed to check out. It happens sometimes. I wouldn’t worry.”

 

The meal went on as usual, everyone having eaten up eventually, but they still hadn’t heard a word from Aasim. Then, just as they thought they’d have to assemble a search party to find him, the doors to the admin building swung open, and out he came, carrying a giant, half-rotten cardboard box that obscured his head and most of his torso from view. He seemed to struggle slightly with the size of it getting out of the door, and for one daring moment it looked like his foot would miss the next step going down the stairs, but, without tripping, he managed to safely put the box on the ground, the contents rattling and jingling as he did.

 

   Willy, AJ and Louis almost fell over in their rush to get up and see what Aasim had brought out, while the others joined them at a more reasonable pace, although just as curious. Louis seemed to be the most excited out of all of them.

 

   “Is that what I think it is?” he exclaimed happily as he stumbled over, putting his hands on top of the box. “I could recognize this _anywhere_.”

 

   Aasim rolled his shoulders and stretched and bent his arms a few times. “Yep. I knew it was around somewhere.”

 

   “What is it?” AJ asked, studying the outside of the box with interest. His eyes fell on a faded word written on the side in black marker. “C… Chrrrr… Christ…”

 

   “Open it already!” Willy interrupted impatiently and reached for the flaps on the box, but was stopped by Louis before he could grab them.

 

   “Hold on! This is a _special moment_. Everyone has to be here for it.”

 

   They waited until the whole group was gathered around the box, and once Louis was happy with the audience, he called out, “Behold the splendour!” ceremoniously before throwing the flaps open, revealing the mysterious contents.

 

   The box was filled to the brim with old Christmas decorations. The ones who could reach began pulling this and that up from the box and talking excitedly, apparently recalling memories related to the items. There was a flurry of hands, strings and glimmering objects, but Clementine managed to catch a glimpse of many of the ornaments: cardboard reindeer and Santa Claus with bent edges on a string, silver and gold tinsel garlands, elves on the shelf, homemade paper stars and hearts, ceramic snowmen and angels with broken off wings and chipped halos, wreaths made of fake spruce with ribbons and plastic pinecones and berries, and all kinds of tree ornaments, like baubles of glass (most of them in pieces) and metal (some of them dented), bent crosses adorned with glittering rhinestones, bells, birds, more angels, and, of course, at the bottom of the box, a big gold star for a tree topper.

 

   Clementine hadn’t seen this much Christmas decoration since before the outbreak when she would visit her grandparents, who always somehow over-decorated the tree and had collected tons of ornaments over the past forty or so years. The others appeared to be in as much awe as her, except Mitch, who was pouting and observing everyone else fawn over garlands and angels from a safe distance with his arms crossed, and Violet, who was watching the ornaments change hands and shine in the sunlight without participating herself. Unlike Mitch, though, she seemed sad rather than annoyed. The thrilled shimmer of excitement wasn’t mimicked in her eyes, and concern washed over and quelled some of Clementine’s joy.

 

   Naturally, someone had already suggested decorating the school, and, naturally, mostly everyone was in agreement. They still had the daily chores that would keep them all alive to do, however.

 

   Clementine noticed Ruby looking contemplative for a moment, then stepping back and calling out over the excited blabber of the others: “A’ight, I know we’re all steamed up ‘bout decoratin’ n’ all—“

 

   “Speak for yourself…” Mitch sneered in a low voice from behind her.

 

   Ruby ignored his remark entirely, and reverted back to her normal voice when attention was turned to her and the chatter had died down. “—but we still gotta hunt for lunch and dinner t’night. N’ since I got huntin’ duty, I’m thinkin’ me n’ a few others will go out while the rest o’ y’all stay home to make it all festive n’ cosy.”

 

   “Since _I’m_ the one to thank for initiating all this,” Louis said while fiddling with the hat of a knitted elf, “I think it’s only fair I skip my hunting duty today so I can guide the masses here at home on how to decorate properly.”

 

   “I’ll go hunting instead,” Mitch piped up again.

 

   Louis put his hand on his cheek in a fake-surprised expression. “Mitch… that’s so considerate of you…”

 

   “It’s not for _you,_ ” he snapped, “it’s so I can get out of touching any of that Christmas crap.”

dfdfthe excited chatter of l voice when attention was turned to herg back and calling out over the excited chatter of

 

   “I would be hurt by the insult to Christmas if I weren’t so happy about trading my hunting duty away. Thanks, Mitch.”

 

   “I’ll need another strong person to help me out,” Ruby continued. “Omar – why don’t’ya come?”

 

   Everyone looked around, puzzled. It was usually only two people who’d go hunting and foraging, since having more people would make it easier for someone to get in the way or to get hurt. Ruby seemed adamant in bringing Mitch and Omar both, though, so no one decided to oppose her.

 

   Initially, after the three had set off, Louis argued that he should oversee all the decorating to ensure that everything would be _just_ as he envisioned it in his mind’s eye, but he didn’t get very far in his argument before Violet had shot down whatever he did have, saying she refused to be watched over like a baby (although it was said in a much less polite way), and that having to put “stupid, useless ornaments” up all over school was more than enough for her.

 

   Since Louis would rather not have his face chewed off, he complied and settled with only employing Aasim and AJ to help him decorate the dorms, while Clementine, Violet, and Tenn were assigned the admin building. Willy, to much protest, was put on watch and wouldn’t get to help decorate. Clementine was grateful that they’d at least have _someone_ keep a lookout so they wouldn’t get overrun doing something as simple and ultimately unnecessary as putting up Christmas ornaments.

 

   After they’d parted the ornaments into two boxes and had separated into two groups to take care of each section of the school, Clementine saw an opening. “Hey, Vi, d’you wanna help me with the second floor?”

 

   Violet’s eyes widened and her eyebrows rose for a moment, but her face quickly reverted to its familiar folds. She shrugged, attempting to seem nonchalant and failing slightly. “Sure. Why not.”

 

   “I’ll take the bottom floor, then,” Tenn said, precisely as Clementine had hoped. “I prefer to do stuff on my own, anyway.”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

   “So…” Clementine began as she wrapped a tinsel garland around the bannister on the stairs, some time after they had begun decorating, “what happened when we talked about Christmas last night? That made you leave?”

 

   Violet stopped in the motion of putting an angel on the shelf inside a cupboard, and Clementine worried she’d overstepped. But then Violet sighed. “I just…” She turned around and put the angel back in the small crate they’d brought up with half of the decorations for the admin building, then straightened up and put her hands in her pockets. “I’ve never been crazy about Christmas in general. You know I’m not a ‘people person’, and I don’t really get the fuss with getting together and eating a ton of food and spending a lot of money on gifts for people and stuff.”

 

   She came over and sat down on the first step of the stairs. Clementine finished wrapping the garland around the top column and sat down next to her. “I mean… Ruby was right yesterday when she said Christmas isn’t just about the food and the gifts. It’s… well, it’s more important to just spend time with people you love. I think that’s the whole point.”

 

   “I know, and that’s what annoys me about it.” Violet wrapped her arms around her legs and simply looked ahead of her. “Or… it’s not annoying, I guess, but it… it just makes me upset.”

 

   Clementine furrowed her brows and attempted to get a clue out of watching Violet’s expression, but it gave her nothing. “I don’t understand how that can make you _upset_. It makes me _happy_.”

 

   “Well, you weren’t given away by your parents when you were a kid, were you?” Violet snapped passive-aggressively. Clementine simply looked at her, shocked, and it didn’t take many moments for Violet’s anger to dissolve into guilt and regret. She turned her head to Clementine, sorrow in her eyes. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that, at all. Just… Christmas reminds me of all the holidays I didn’t get to spend at home because my parents apparently didn’t love me enough to… to keep me around. So it’s… kinda sensitive, you know? And then Louis started talking about it and it just reminded me of… some bad stuff.”

 

   Clementine nodded and thought silently for a moment. “It’s okay. And I’m sorry, or whatever you say. About your parents, I mean.” She started absentmindedly fiddling with some of the tinsel on the garland next to her. “I don’t know how you feel – I was pretty close with my parents – but… I think family can be a lot of things.”

 

   Their eyes met for a second, slight confusion painted in Violet’s features. Clementine looked away, bashful. “I just mean, like… I miss my parents pretty much every day, but… Lee – we didn’t even get to know each other for very long, and it’s years ago now, but he was like a dad to me, and I’m as close to being AJ’s family as anyone gets, I guess, and… Ericson is my home now, and I consider all of you my new family. S—So… like… even if your biological family wasn’t very good, you can think of your friends as your family. It’s the best any one of us has.”

 

   Clementine gathered all her might and looked Violet in the eyes again, holding the contact this time. Now Violet was the one to drop her gaze a moment later, visibly moved by Clementine’s words. “Wow… I never even thought about it like that.” Then a wry smile overtook her face as she cocked her head and looked back up. “Running around out in the wild with the constant overhanging fear of a brutal death makes you wise, huh?”

 

   “Guess so.” Clementine couldn’t help but let a small smile show and adjusted her cap, which didn’t need adjustment. “You learn a thing or two, being out there for so long.”

 

   Maybe if Clementine had been more observant, she would’ve noticed Violet’s fingers moving ever so slightly, lacking just enough courage to reach out and take her hand, and maybe she would’ve noticed the way Violet’s breath hitched ever so subtly in her throat preceding a smug, bold question about whether Clementine had learned a thing or two about love while she was out there, halting it before it could tumble over her lips with no thought behind it.

 

   But she didn’t even get a chance to notice any of it before the sound of the doors downstairs swinging open and Willy’s excited voice mingling with his heaving breaths from running rang up through the building.

 

   “Vi! Clem! Get down here! They found a Christmas tree!”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

   Pine needles laid strewn out all over the floor just inside the doors to the admin building after Omar and Mitch had carried the tree inside, accidentally dragging one side against the doorframe while doing so. Ruby watched them struggle with an extremely satisfied smile on her face, a small deer slung over her shoulder and a sack with unknown contents in her hand. Clementine saw this as she and Violet made their way down the stairs, just as Louis, Aasim and AJ came running in through the doors, too. Or, well, Louis and AJ did the running – Aasim followed behind at more of a walking pace.

 

   “Oh… It’s beautiful…” The Christmas lights were back on in Louis’ eyes as he beheld the tree that had been brought home, which was now standing while Omar held it upright. It was barely taller than Louis, but Clementine guessed it could’ve been a sapling for all he cared.

 

   “Now, I know the tree’s the most interestin’ bit,” Ruby began, still smiling, “but we also shot ourselves a nice, li’l buck, and… y’all are gonna love this, ya have to see it.”

 

   She let the bag, which seemed to weigh a decent amount, drop to the floor, and it opened just enough to reveal what it contained.

 

   “Are those…” Louis stuck his hand inside and retrieved a small, brownish tuber, “potatoes?”

 

   Ruby’s face beamed with joy. “Ya bet they are! I was sure the cold would’a done ‘em in by now, but we found ‘em just growin’ wild out in the woods – still fresh n’ tasty! And the best part: If we save just _one_ tater n’ and plant it in the greenhouse, we can grow our own! And _keep_ growin’ ‘em!”

 

   If the mood hadn’t been improved at least a little by the sight of the Christmas tree and the decorations, it sure had now. Potatoes weren’t just tasty – they were nutritious and filling, and they would be a great asset to everyone’s survival once their crop had, quite literally, taken root and started continually producing potatoes to eat.

 

   “I was thinking of fixing up something of a proper Christmas meal, now that we have potatoes,” Omar said, still holding on to the tree. Mitch had his head buried in a box of ornaments, presumably searching for a foot for it. “We don’t have enough for dinner, but I could make a nice lunch with the deer and the potatoes.”

 

   Clementine couldn’t remember the last time she had seen a potato, a food that had been so common and abundant before the outbreak that people barely knew what to do with them. But they were perishable, and rice and canned beans weren’t, so that’s what they had been living off of for the past uncountable months, and a change of flavours was welcome.

 

   “Omar needs help cleanin’ all these taters, so I’ll do that while he fixes the deer,” Ruby said, picking the sack up and adjusting the animal on her shoulder. “Y’all can decorate the tree if ya like.”

 

   Mitch had finally dug up the foot for the tree, and Willy was over the box like a vulture as soon as he stood up straight, rummaging through it for still intact baubles and whatever else to hang on the tree.

 

   “Lift,” Mitch instructed Omar concisely, who did as he was told, wrapping his arms around the trunk between the branches as best he could. His face almost disappeared in needles, and more fell to the already messy floor, but the tree was lifted off the ground slightly, and Mitch could place the foot under it. Once the trunk was securely fastened and the tree could stand on its own, Mitch got up, dusted off his knees, and headed for the door. “I’ve done my fair share of Christmas shit now. Have fun putting junk on the thing.”

 

   “It’ll be lunchtime in a jiffy, so we’ll go clean the taters and get the meat in a pot n’ all.” Ruby hankered up in the deer again, struggling with the weight, and Omar stepped in to relieve her of the potatoes. “Oh, thank ya. Make it nice n’ pretty, now, y’all!”

 

   “I’ll go too,” Aasim announced, barely a moment after Ruby had finished saying the last word and begun making for the door. “I have to write in my journal.”

 

   “You’re a real _peach_ for finding these decorations, ‘Sim!” Louis called after him as he followed behind the two others. “Go write about how cute my Christmas spirit is in your diary!”

 

   “It’s a _journal!_ And shut up!” he yelled back, stepping out and closing the door with a decidedly harder _click_ than usual, yet it wasn’t quite a slam, as if demonstrating his exasperation but not wanting to appear furious.

 

   Those remaining – Clementine, Louis, Violet, AJ, Willy and Tenn – started putting ornaments on the tree, talking companionably between each other. AJ would occasionally take a heart or an angel from the box and show it to Clementine or Tenn, pointing out how pretty it was. They were careful to gently remove the bits and shards of broken ornaments from the box, if nothing else so that Willy’s eager hands (or Louis’, for that matter) wouldn’t reach for one that happened to be in sharp pieces. The somewhat mindless work of picking a random branch and twirling a small piece of wire around it was calming, and Clementine quickly fell into a pleasant rhythm.

 

   It wasn’t very long before she was thrown out of the rhythm, though, by AJ pulling on her sleeve and saying he had something to tell her. When he wouldn’t compromise with telling her later, or with telling her while the others were around, she gave in and went with him a few feet away, as much out of earshot as the cavernous main hall would allow.

 

   “What’s up, bud?” she said in a low voice, kneeling down to his eye level.

 

   AJ fidgeted for a moment, seemingly unable to find the words. “Um… It’s just… I thought I saw someone at the top of the bell tower, this morning.” Clementine was already about to interject, but he continued: “The sun wasn’t up yet, so it was pretty dark. But… I’m _sure_ I saw someone up there.”

 

   She sighed, smiling and shaking her head. “AJ, I told you yesterday Santa isn’t real. Don’t you think it’s just your mind making you imagine things because you’re afraid?”

 

   He shook his head too, very determinedly. “I _know_ Santa isn’t real, and I _know_ I wasn’t just imagining things. Please, Clem, could you go… check it out? Like, when we’re done decorating, I mean? It could be someone scary! Someone who wants to hurt us!”

 

   Clementine just looked at him for a moment, deciding whether she should believe him or keep writing it off as childhood fears coupled with a vivid imagination. “Okay, okay, fine,” she said eventually. “I’ll go up there and see if I can find any… clues of someone having been there. Happy?”

 

   AJ’s steadfast resolve melted into a happy grin, the concern washing off his face almost _too_ quickly. “Yes! Now, let’s go back, I wanna put the star on top.”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

   Dead leaves crunched under Clementine’s boots as she approached the bell tower a while later, the Christmas tree now fully decked with colourful and glimmering ornaments from toe to tip. Her trip to the tower had been postponed slightly by Tenn accidentally dropping a bauble that needed cleaning up, which required them to locate a broom and a dustpan, a feat that was seemingly impossible in a place entirely populated by children and teenagers that had never even seen the shadow of cleaning supplies before. On top of that, Violet had left mysteriously with barely a word before they were even completely done decorating, but Clementine had written it off as the Christmas stuff becoming too overwhelming for her despite their conversation earlier, so she decided not to pursue her.

 

   Now, climbing the broken insides of the bell tower, Clementine wondered how anyone who wasn’t used to making the climb regularly could possibly have gotten up there. Usually it was climbable for anyone with decent coordination, but during winter the footholds and steps would get slippery with frost, making losing your grip much easier. And falling from a height like that would spell doom no matter what.

 

   Sorely regretting letting her mind wander to thoughts like those at this time, Clementine slowly and carefully made her way to the top. A piercingly cold wind whistled in through the holes and cracks in the brickwork, freezing her fingers and toes and numbing her sense of touch. Still, it was a climb she took on every other day when she was put on watch, and the motions of getting up there were almost committed to her muscle memory at this point.

 

   With some small scrapes and aching hands, she made it to the last intact wooden platform of the tower and took the few final steps to the very top. But what she saw when she looked up almost made her stumble back down in shock.

 

On the railing around the opening where she had just come up the stairs were garlands of cardboard hearts, and on the vines snaking up the columns holding the roof were ornaments – most in the shape of hearts, but some shaped like stars as well – hung as if each column was a Christmas tree in itself.

 

   And there, on the opposite side of the opening, was Violet, underneath a small, leafless, bush-looking thing that was somehow tied to the stone arch between the columns.

 

   “… Violet?” Clementine said, confusion written all over her as she walked over, taking in and trying to make sense of all the decorations.

 

   “Clem!” Violet spun around, looking equally puzzled.

 

   “Did you do this?” they both managed to ask at the exact same time, winning neither of them any answers and relieving none of the confusion.

 

   “Wait… why are _you_ up here?” Violet asked.

 

   “AJ told me he saw someone up here this morning and wanted me to check it out.”

 

   Violet started looking suspicious of something, quirking her brow and crossing her arms. “That’s funny, because Louis told me the same thing, and that I shouldn’t talk to anyone about it because they’d get worried.”

 

   Clementine considered it for a moment, not following Violet’s thought process at first. “I don’t—“ Then it hit her, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it. “You think Louis made it up and AJ was in on it so they could set us up here?”

 

   Violet laughed too, her suspicion now replaced with an amused smile. “That’s exactly what I think. God, it’s such a Louis thing to do.”

 

   Chuckling, Clementine looked around at the decorations again and shook her head slightly. “That little… I told AJ about mistletoe last night because he kept going on about Christmas. He must’ve mentioned it to Louis today when they put up ornaments by the dorms. And then Louis cooked this up.” Her eyes fell on the less-than-impressive-looking bunch of branches above their heads. “And that’s gotta be the mistletoe. Though I remember it being greener and less… miserable.”

 

   “Louis wouldn’t be able to tell a rock from a pillow if it hit him in the face.” Violet touched one of the hearts that was hung from a vine and Clementine thought she’d never seen her be so gentle. “This is still pretty sweet, though.”

 

   It was the first clear day in some time. White clouds were stretched so long and thin they were almost transparent with the backdrop of a brilliant blue sky, and the sun, sharp and bright but with no power or warmth, was already nearing its peak for the day. Its rays cast long shadows on Violet’s face, making her features more stark and accentuated, yet they also subtly highlighted the way the left corner of her mouth curled up slightly more when she smiled, and how the green nuances in her eyes lit up like sunlight reflecting off of the surface of the ocean. Clementine boldly dared to imagine what kissing her would be like.

 

   Before she thought better of it, she said: “The question is if we should treat it like a mistletoe, or… like a handful of dry twigs.”

 

   A distinct blush passed over Violet’s previously pale, cold cheeks, and she dropped her gaze. “Well…” she mumbled, “I mean, it… _was_ a mistletoe that Louis was aiming for, right?” Her eyes flitted to Clementine’s for a short second or two, studying her reaction, then went back to hovering around her feet.

 

   In the meantime, Clementine was growing more and more convinced that it was actually possible for her heart to beat out of her chest. Yet, somehow, the sound of the pulse in her ears was making her feel emboldened. “Right.” She took a small, tentative step forward. “And he probably put his life on the line to get up here.”

 

   Violet chuckled, out of amusement and nervousness, still keeping her head down and eyes to the floor. “I don’t even wanna know how he got the decorations up.”

 

   The nervous chuckle sent Clementine into a fit of giggles herself, and soon they were standing there in the isolation of the bell tower, both laughing as if it were the only thing still keeping them afloat.

 

   Once the giggles had died down, a breath of tense silence spread between them. Clementine had taken to hiding her fluster by tipping the shade of her cap down, but when she tipped it back into place, she was met by a pair of dark green eyes peering determinedly up at her. Momentarily caught off guard, Clementine felt her face grow hot, from her neck to the tips of her ears, and she swallowed the lump in her throat that had instantly formed.

 

   Frightened as she may have been, she maintained eye contact, and rather than step away, she inched closer, eventually regaining enough control of her limbs to reach out a shaking hand to hold Violet’s. Then, taking a deep, steeling breath, she leaned forward and closed her eyes, remembering at the last second to tilt her head slightly to one side.

 

   At first, her lips barely grazed Violet’s, still hesitant and apprehensive, but when she was about to pull away, Violet leaned forward herself, closing the distance between their lips properly, as if she wouldn’t suffice with something that could only _just_ be called a kiss. The motion surprised Clementine, but she quickly adapted and happily returned the kiss, squeezing Violet’s hand and getting a squeeze back. She felt Violet smile against her lips, and then her free hand gently land on her shoulder. Clementine then felt awkward having a free hand and ended up putting it on Violet’s waist, as it was what happened to be closest. A good choice, too, she thought to herself. Her hand fit there nicely.

 

   The kiss most likely didn’t last longer than a few fast heartbeats, and Clementine felt she could go on for many more when they parted. They stayed connected at the foreheads, though, little, happy smiles on both their faces.

 

   “We should probably get back before the others think we’ve been eaten or something,” Clementine said, stepping back but not letting go of Violet’s hand.

 

   “Probably. Should we tell Louis that his plan worked?”

 

   “Are you kidding? We should tell him to try harder by hanging up more mistletoe.”

 

   Violet laughed and began dragging Clementine along to the stairs. “Don’t get too eager, now.”

 

   They climbed down the tower and headed back to the school, and later, after their Christmas meal was all eaten up, they kicked back and relaxed, with good food to warm their stomachs and a sweet kiss to warm their hearts.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Title taken from the song "Kissing Under The Mistletoe" by Loving Caliber. I haven't actually heard the song and was just grasping for a quick, cutesy Christmas title for the fic.
> 
> If you wanna get in touch, I'm acelienn on tumblr. Feel free to message me anytime!


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